Hello beloved LifeWay family,
Happy Advent to you all!
Why is the sermon theme this Advent season on Sin and the Fall? What a damper on a joyous and happy season…Why not just happy carols, frosted cookies, and joyful choruses? Christ has come!
But is life really like that?
I was told once by a friend overseas that when Western missionaries leave the homes of indigenous peoples/groups/tribes, these once smiling people return to their lament and sadness. The Western presence is akin to a sugar spike from cookies and cakes. It is hyper once present, but the energy dump is coming with its sudden absence.
Many of us see kids in poor communities with huge smiles on their faces as they receive a new soccer ball or barbie. Then we say, “Oh, how happy they are with a simple life.” May I just kindly tell you, they are not as happy as they might seem. You see them when they are seeing you. But once you lose sight of them and they you, they return to their reality.
Isn’t Sunday morning sometimes like that? The temptation to smile and be happy when together (especially in December), all the while deep, down inside dwells an aching, anxious heart waiting to return once alone.
In this Advent season, we will rejoice. We should be glad. For Christ has come, and he will come again! This is great news! But he isn’t back yet. So, there is honest space for lament and sadness in the waiting…
I know there are some of you that are feeling disappointed this Christmas season. Perhaps, also guilty that you are disappointed? Then frustratingly confused why you are feeling guilty that you are disappointed?
May I warmly invite those of you that may be closer to a posture of confusion, bitterness, or guilt… God wants to speak to you in the depths and valleys. He sees reality as it is. This world is not what it should be. It is broken. It is in great need of restoration. Why? Because sin is real.
As Paul the Apostle wrote in his letter to the saints in Rome, “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved.”
Come and gather with us to see sin as it really is, so that we may in hope approach God with expectation that he will redeem and deliver us from the gloom and darkness. Christ said to his confused and soon-to-be downcast disciples, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
In preparation for this Advent Sunday, please read and meditate over Genesis 3. In addition, here are some songs to prepare your hearts. I give God thanks for each of you. Brothers and sisters, I am eager to gather with each of you.
- I Will Wait for You (Psalm 130) by KeithandKristyn Getty.
- Lord, I Need You by Matt Maher
- Lament by The Worship Initiative
- Lord from Sorrows Deep I Call (Psalm 42) by KeithandKristyn Getty
Grace and peace,
Tim Kim